The Statue
by newtypeshadow
Summary: A supernatural explination for how Trowa managed to become so good at infiltration. *oneshot*


The Statue  
by Lady Tait  
  
  
The statue bled dust and cried blood. It had a sinister aura, and was avoided by the people of the colony. Worn and old, it bled at seemingly random times. In truth, every time someone spoke of it badly, it would bleed. Where it bled was a matter up to its unknown creator, but it bled nonetheless.  
  
  
The baby was found on the front steps under the statue as it bled.  
  
  
The dust fell into the baby's eyes and caused it to cry salty tears, then rub them vigorously with its pudgy fists. The statue cried for the ailing babe and knelt to reach it, picking it up and holding it in its arms.  
  
  
A drop of blood splattered on the young boy's cheek, then dissolved in a warm sparkle of light.  
  
  
The baby looked up into the eyes of the statue, long since abandoned by life itself for its fearful aura. He looked into its gray stone eyes and smiled through tears, mouth opened wide, the beginnings of a tooth exposed in the cool night air. The dark, starry sky and sliver of a moon beamed down on them with a faint light, illuminating the baby's soft pale cheeks -- casting no shadow.  
  
  
The statue smiled down at the baby, longing to keep it close to her for as long as she stood in the center of the park, abused and feared by the public and a perch for straying birds. No one had ever had the heart to move her, for her bloody tears and unexplainable dust kept normal beings on edge. But this little baby with the bright green eyes and small fluff of brown hair wasn't afraid, indeed loved her, though she was different; she was stone.  
  
  
'You shall never be afraid, my child.'  
  
  
Her voice chilled the baby, yet he still gazed adoringly at her sad features, carved in stone and doomed to stay that way until she bled and returned to dust again. He wasn't afraid. He would never fear anyone or anything again.  
  
  
And he would wear a mask. A gift from her. So no one would know her secret. Their secret. 'You can be anything you choose, my little one. Put on a mask, and be transformed. Much like me.'  
  
  
And with a wink, the statue froze in time and space again, the child still in her arms. The baby looked up at the again impassive face, growing cold and worried that his caretaker was gone. Bloody tears streamed down its gray, dark face, landing on his own pale white one and slipping down his cheeks, mingling with his own.  
  
  
An angelic form garbed in white with soft feathery wings emerged from the statue, coming forward from its body to cradle the child protectively in its arms. Its gossamer wings swayed in the cool breeze that suddenly arose and dissipated in the trees beyond them.  
  
  
She smiled at him, brown curls bouncing as she lowered her head to gaze into his eyes. He reached out to touch one, giggling at its softness, and grabbed onto it, not wishing to let go, lest she leave just like the rest.  
  
  
'Ca-chan!' he squealed gleefully, pulling apart strands of hair in another curl with one hand while the other was still balled tightly around the other. She couldn't help but laugh softly, gently shaking the baby with her body. He gave another squeal of delight, widening the smiles on both of their faces. To a stranger walking past, the pair would be translucent in the dim light, a winged apparition holding a child who seemed to be fading quickly from the real world to her own.  
  
  
A twig cracked. Someone was approaching the two at an alarmingly fast pace. Fierce reprimands could be heard directed from one party to another, younger one. A girl's muffled sob could be heard through the trees, along with another person's reassuring tone offering comfort and peace to both.  
  
  
'My little one,' the angelic woman whispered to the green eyed wonder in her arms, 'I must leave you now, but I shall return to you again. For now, I offer you this gift, as promised.' She clutched him fiercely, almost causing him to cry out in pain, and something happened: the two began to glow, dimly, then brighter, until they disappeared inside a blinding sphere of light. The entire park area around them shimmered with an unearthly glow, illuminating the foliage around the small clearing, turning the gray statue the purest shade of white.  
  
  
The group in the woods stopped, noting the sudden unusual brightness of the area around them anxiously. The man began walking forward again, more slowly, than faster, strides getting continually longer and more rapid, until he was running full speed toward the source of the light. The woman was not far behind. The girl, forgotten and afraid, couldn't move.  
  
  
Gradually, the light grew dim and disappeared, the area once again lit only by the faint light of the stars and the crescent moon in the sky. Shaking in fear, the girl backed into a tree and sat down, waiting.  
  
  
The angel placed the boy at the feet of the cold statue, its bloody tears gone, its body white and clean.  
  
  
Two people ran up, and upon seeing the boy, the woman grabbed him and pressed him wearily against her, sobbing all the while and crying his name. The boy was silent, not shedding a single tear, and instead whipped his head around to gaze back at the statue. Rather, at the figure in front of the statue, seen only by him.  
  
  
'Remember your gift.'  
  
  
He nodded, and the light in his eyes glowed, then dulled. He understood.  
  
  
He donned the mask of innocence and turned back to his mother, sporting an almost toothless grin, his green eyes bright with the illusion of happiness. A small tuft of brown hair fell across his face, nearly reaching his eyebrows. He turned to his father, who was peering at him suspiciously from over the mother's shoulder. The child gazed back at him, seemingly oblivious to the fierce scrutiny.  
  
  
Then came a sound; 'Where's Ca-chan?'  
  
  
His mother blinked in shock; then, as the realization pierced her brain, she began jumping up and down in excitement, rattling the fragile baby she held in her arms. 'Can you say it again?' she asked excitedly, looking expectantly at him as she held his face on the same level as hers, his chubby fingers locked on the fabric of her shirt over one shoulder as he tried to hoist himself up and stand in her arms. He peered back at her expectantly.  
  
  
'Where Ca-chan?' he repeated.  
  
  
His mother squealed in delight, then frowned as the meaning of his words sank in.  
  
  
'Ca-chan? Catherine? Oh no, where is she?!'  
  
  
'I don't know. I left her with you!'  
  
  
'Well, I thought she was right behind me!'  
  
  
'We've got to go find her!'  
  
  
'CAAAATHERIIIIINE!!!!' A chorus of voices broke through the trees of the forest, bombarding the ears of the girl crying against a tree. The child's body heaved and shook as sobs wracked her small frame.  
  
  
Suddenly, the space in front of her began to glow, and a lucent figure in white appeared before her, glowing in all its winged brilliance.  
  
  
'Don't cry,' she murmured softly, her words surrounding and enveloping the young child sitting in front of her in a soothing breeze, tendrils of sound wrapping themselves around her and calming and caressing her like a warm, silky blanket.  
  
  
The girl's tear-streaked face peered up at her curiously, unafraid of the radiant figure hovering in mid-air. The one who could read her mind.  
  
  
'He's all right, dear, but you are not. I have given him a gift.'  
  
  
The specter paused. 'He can change....Shift faces and personalities, the masks that we wear, more easily than most. He has to power to change. He wears a mask now, as we speak. He will change soon, but don't worry about his future or yours. I must give you a gift too, now.'  
  
  
The girl had stopped crying, and gazed up at the being before her in curiosity. She timidly pushed a curly brown lock of hair out of her face and behind her ear, almost expecting to see the woman before her do the same. It was as though she were looking through a mirror at an older version of herself.  
  
  
'What gift?' she asked tentatively.  
  
  
'I told him he would see me again. I alone can see through him and the masks he wears. I pass that gift on to you. Don't be frightened. Please trust me.'  
  
  
She slowly reached out a glowing hand to the child, who in turn reached out to grasp it. The spirit pulled the girl to her feet, the being's eyes never wavering from the lock on the girl's.  
  
  
The light from the woman extended through the girl, starting at her hand, and slowly spreading like a virus until it had enveloped the girl's entire body, and the two stood shining in midst of the dark forest.  
  
  
'He will see me in you, and you will see him through me.'  
  
  
Suddenly the light expanded. The girl's breath became ragged. She was drowning in the light. It consumed her, igniting a fire which shot painfully through her veins, becoming one with her. She inhaled sharply, astonished at the angelic form still grasping her hand, as a new burning wave crashed through her chest. But though there was a question in her eyes, she didn't let go.  
  
  
The angel began to fade and collapse in on herself, melting into a floating pool of white light that spread and elongated until it was a horizontal line hovering at the same level as the girl's hand. The beam of light flashed even more brightly than it had already been, and shot like a bolt of lightening into the child's outstretched hand, entering her body and filling her with the light of the angel. She glowed and became encompassed by the light for what seemed like an eternity. She felt incredible pain, yet she couldn't scream. Her voice would not work. Her eyes clamped shut and her body shook as it was overwhelmed by the agony washing over her repeatedly in waves of fire and ice. The light spread from her body and surrounded her in a glowing sphere of white; then it receded into her with a blast of wind, and all was still.  
  
  
The pain was gone. She blinked. Footsteps approached her, and two bodies materialized from the trees around her. One carried a child. Her brother. She could see him smiling, his eyes bright, his single tooth glowing in the soft light. She smiled, took a step forward, and reached out to hold him. He in turn reached out to her, and she took him in her tiny arms and held him. He looked into her eyes, his glowing with happiness.  
  
  
But she could see through them. She could see through him. He was happy to see her, but melancholy as well. He wasn't really smiling. His eyes were dead.  
  
  
And he could see through her. He could see past her eyes and inside of her, noting with joy that the figure in white was inside. They two girls looked alike, despite their age differences. She would be the mirror image of the angel when she was older.  
  
  
He reached up and grasped a lock of his sister's curly brown hair, and she tilted her head to the side and watched with satisfaction as a chunk of hair on the other side of her head fell from behind her ear to tickle his nose. He crinkled his face with delight, cooing and reaching for her hair in the same fashion as he had the angel's. His face possessed a real smile this time.  
  
  
Their father spoke. Harsh tones, angry tones, chiding her for her stupidity, for not following, for causing them to worry.  
  
  
A tear fell from her eye and landed on the face of the baby. He looked up at her sadly, his eyes becoming empty, his mask gone.  
  
  
He couldn't hide it from her, he knew.  
  
  
He let go of the lock of hair had been holding, and used that hand to wipe away a second tear from her eyes. She smiled at him, then turned and started walking out of the forest slowly behind her parents.  
  
  
The statue watched sadly as they left. Neither child could hide their true self from her. But would she ever see them again?  
  
  
At this thought, the newly white statue cried its first tears of blood since its transformation, staining the pure white with proof of its unhappiness, an omen of what was to come. 


End file.
